Maryland’s New Driver’s Licenses Sure Are Colorful

Remember when driver’s licenses used to just be a flimsy, laminated piece of plastic?

As hoaxers and criminals get more sophisticated at making fake IDs, states are having to scramble to make their ID cards harder to forge: hence the holograms, embossed text, and other anti-fraud devices that have been increasingly showing up on official identification cards nationwide.

Changeable laser image (which allows two or more images to occupy the same area)

Tactile text (again, hard to forge)

Inventory control number (which links the card back to who it was originally issued to).

The cards are also quite… colorful, featuring a pastel version of the Maryland flag overlaid with an icon of a crab or a bird that I’m assuming is supposed to represent an oriole. (Sorry, Ravens — after last year, I guess you don’t deserve a spot on the official state ID.) After July 11 of this year, everyone issued a new ID will get one of these fancy new versions.